Thought for the week ...

TABLEtalk - Room 101

Our theme at TABLEtalk last night was 'If I Ruled the World'. We began with some very animated discussion about 'power' and both it's positive and negative uses.  We also thought about what issues we would personally address if we were made leader of our own nation 😳😳😳

Then, using the concept of Room 101, taken from George Orwell's classic '1984' and from the TV show, we thought about our own pet peeves and the thing we would like to banish to Room 101.

Under the topic of FASHION there were a good number of candidates and lots of agreement regarding the consumerism surrounding fashion.  However, by democratic vote 'ridiculous high-end fashion that no normal person would wear' was banished to Room 101.

Our second category was TECHNOLOGY and whilst every group had TikTok on their list the final vote was, most definitely, to banish 'technological advancement in weaponry'.

Last, but by no means least, came DRIVING.  Oh sooooo many things were nominated here but by serious majority vote all 'back seat drivers' are hereby firmly and forever placed in Room 101. 

Thought for the week ...

Bowling

Last time we went bowling it was me and a bunch of guys. Today, it was Jon's turn to be the odd one out 😀 

It actually felt really nice just being a small group of people. It was a very pleasant way to spend a few hours on a Sunday afternoon.

Our first game, Yinka romped into first place getting two spares and a strike!!  Jon was not so on form😮😮😮

The next game it was Jane's turn to take the lead, with Jon coming in second 😀

TABLEtalk International Night

What a marvellous evening at TABLEtalk last night 😀  Such a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who took part, as well as those who clapped and cheered 😂👏😂👏😂👏😂

I was so thrilled with the number and variety of offerings different folk brought to our evening.  I got us off to a very silly start, with my usual party piece song ... "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly".  Thanks Arun for this photo 👍

Shahan sang two songs, including a

modern Pakistani folk song

Jane, from India, told us about the nation of Brunei, where she was raised. As an avid traveller, I have to confess it made me want to add Brunei to my bucket list!!

Enzo sang a song in honour of the people of Iran. It was emotional and informative. Thanks, Enzo! Thanks also to Nonso for his guitar accompaniment for both Shahan & Enzo.

View video

Several people brought along food to share.  From Arun we enjoyed Sweet Pongol and Kheer - both of which were scrumptious.  Anita and Barbara supplied us with some tasty scones and information of the controversy between a Cornish or a Devonshire cream scone 😂😂😂

Akhil and Nandhana introduced us to Vanjipatt, a folk song sung during Vallam Kali, also known as Snake Boat Race, a traditional boat race in Kerala, India. It is a form of canoe racing using paddles war canoes. It is mainly conducted during the season of the harvest festival of Onam. The song covers all aspects of human life ... birth, work, fertility, worship, myths & legends, festivals, and death.

Vanjipatt Folk Song

Anyone needing a good laugh can view the video and hear me totally destroying the chorus, shown below 😂😂😂

 

Zhiyi gave a very interesting talk about China and their fascination with wood. She showed us some beautiful images.

I didn't get to take a photo of Jessica, who tested everyone's knowledge of the U.S.A., seeing if we could name all 50 of the American states. I was too busy handing out chocolates for correct answers.

Last, but certainly not least, we ended our evening with some language lessons in St Kitts & Nevis Creole, and various Nigerian dialects.

Such as:

Liming     -     going out / having fun

Jumbie     -     ghost / spirit

Guh-lang     -     get away  /  leave now!

... and my very favourite

Mi no no     -     I don't know

World Cafe

Another successful World Cafe yesterday  ...  serving 168 students with a drink and small snack.

Great to have Wissam back again, our fully trained and super efficient hot chocolate maker 😀

We were also joined by Arun, getting to hang of making endless teas and coffees.

HUGE THANKS

to both of you!!

Thought for the week ...

Thought for the week ...

Celebrating St David's Day

March 1st each year recognises St David's Day, the patron saint of Wales.

At TABLEtalk we began our evening with a quiz about all things Welsh ... our winners were Brenden and ZhiYi 😀😀  WELL DONE!!

Then we got stuck in to some more great teamwork as each group designed and produced their very own dragon out of random cardboard boxes, pipe cleaners and red crepe paper.

Oni, Gbemi, Rhandi, Himanshu & Deeksha

Damisi, Marcel, Brenden & ZhiYi

Wissam, Arun. Emeka, Ruena

 

Alfred, Jessica, John & Akhil

And our winning designers ...
Sawan, Jane, Aiste & Janice

WELL DONE, EVERYONE 😀😀😀

Training up some new 'baristas'

Frank and I would like to thank Wissam and An for their incredible help today at World Cafe 😀😀

Every time I say we've hit a new record at the cafe, it soon gets overtaken with yet another record. Such was the case today - in two hours we served 205 students with a drink, though latecomers missed out on snacks because we ran out 😞